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Awfully Deep
by Roots Manuva

Roots Manuva reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 80 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
8.9 out of 10
based on 19 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 14 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album

This is the third album for London-based rapper Rodney Smith.

LABEL: Big Dada
RELEASE DATE: 19 April 2005
DISCS: 1 disc
GENRE(S): Rap

NOTES: Original UK release 31 Jan 2005.


What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100
The Guardian
Smith has crafted an album that is deft, addictive and profoundly musical, and it feels like a fresh-minted classic.
Read Full Review
91
Stylus Magazine
His best [album] yet, his most fully-formed, emotionally engaging and sonically rewarding.
Read Full Review
90
New Musical Express
A set of immense maturity that never rubs your nose in its thematic complexity, compositional innovation and thunderous thump-beats. [29 Jan 2005, p.58]
83
Entertainment Weekly
A thrilling mix of moody ambivalence and soulful reggae-tinged hip-hop. [27 May 2005, p.1341]
82
ShakingThrough.net
Awfully Deep is another strong release for Smith, and while it doesn’t sport the effortless flow of his debut or the rich variety of Run Come Save Me, its considered assessment of where he’s been and where he might be heading helps the album more than live up to its title.
Read Full Review
80
Dusted Magazine
Smith’s tracks are both banging and self-effacing, yet the two opposite impulses never seem fully at odds with each other.
Read Full Review
80
Dot Music
It’s Manuva’s startling honesty which first impresses.
Read Full Review
80
Q Magazine
Smith's greatest talent lies in his surreal, witty wordplay and avuncular tone, and the way they combine to make what could be the usual rap anger sound both intimate and strangely uplifting. [Feb 2005, p.95]
80
Tiny Mix Tapes
The music is often awesomely original.
Read Full Review
80
Playlouder
A stealthy, smoking beast of a thing: hip hop with a British passport and dubplate roots, embroidered with wiggly, scratching sound effects and made-to-measure production.
Read Full Review
80
Uncut
THe good stuff is terrific. [Mar 2005, p.104]
80
Mojo
Smith's best, most satisfying album to date. [Mar 2005, p.106]
70
PopMatters
Not a brilliant album, not his best (that remains Run Come Save Me), just a damn fine selection of mood-groove-dub-flavours by one of music's true inimicables.
Read Full Review
70
Junkmedia
Awfully Deep, on the whole, is a bold, ambitious swing for the fences. But, like it or not, the game's done changed, and Manuva '05 sounds way too much like Manuva '01.
Read Full Review
70
Blender
It's protest music gone gleefully psycho. [Jul 2005, p.122]
64
Pitchfork
Awfully Deep makes for churning, menacing background music.
Read Full Review
60
All Music Guide
Overall, Roots Manuva may have a lot to say during the verses, but when his choruses consist of little more than a repeated line shouted over and over ("Awfully Deep," "Too Cold"), listeners won't be hanging around long enough to decipher his rhymes.
Read Full Review
58
Spin
His third album mostly shelves the wit and sui generis style-clash. [Jun 2005, p.108]
58
cokemachineglow
It’s a lot of slickness that adds up to little, though, as a culturally myopic Roots Manuva audibly struggles to feel out the changed face of hip-hop; he sounds unsure of what tone to take and what words to say.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now! The average user rating for this album is 8.9 (out of 10) based on 14 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Jimmy gave it a10:
Pure Goodness

Chicken Supreme gave it a9:
One of the albums of the year for sure as Mr Smith once again matches dub up with electro squelches to create a very personal and touching album.

Andrew O gave it a10:
At times....dark, bright, sad, happy, serious, playfull...but entirely honest. Almost a "Brand New Second Hand."

Vladislaw W gave it a9:
Another awesome album by Rodney, this mate's like Fugazi - he doesn't record sub-par albums

Cornald M gave it a9:
This is the most inventive artist I've heard in years. Great wicked beats and vague lyrics whith an incredible flow.

Derek L gave it a9:
Awfully Deep, is an awfully good third album. Witness the Fitness.

Radek L gave it a9:
Awfully deep & awfully great!!!

Read more user comments...

Discuss this album in our forums

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